Combining power and precision is the great art of football: in FC Bayern's 7-0 victory over Bochum, Leroy Sané proved he has mastered this in an impressive way. In the 17th minute of the game, the Germany international lined up a free-kick and nailed the ball home from around 25 yards, an unstoppable shot passing just inside the upright. "I looked at how the wall was standing. In the end, I just decided to go for it," was the 25-year-old's almost too-simple explanation afterwards.
It was a deserved opener for FCB and the result of a lot of hard work. "I practice free-kicks quite a lot. Especially before the game, I try to get a good feeling for them, from different distances too,” explained the goalscorer. In recent weeks, Sané has regularly devoted himself to set-pieces following normal training sessions. Again and again he shot the ball over the mannequin wall towards goal. Now came the reward and a career-first to boot: for the first time, Sané converted a direct free-kick in the Bundesliga.
A dream goal and an assist
The German international is currently in dazzling form. "I can really see his development, he’s incredibly committed. He's throwing himself into games,” praised Julian Nagelsmann. For the fifth match in a row, Sané was involved in at least one goal (3 goals, 4 assists). This time he even scored two. His super first goal was the initial spark for FCB. "After the opener, we got going and from then on we started scoring goals," Sané said.
Just ten minutes after scoring the opening goal, our number 10 provided midfielder Joshua Kimmich with an excellent assist in the penalty area and he only had to slot the ball home to make it 2-0. For the sixth goal, scored by Robert Lewandowski, Sané again played a major role. After a strong move, he cut the ball back to Serge Gnabry, who teed-up an open Lewandowski.
Fans give Sané special applause
Shortly afterwards, Nagelsmann gave the winger an early night off and Sané was substituted. The fans were thrilled with Sané and sent him on his way to thunderous applause. And rightly so, because his performance was excellent!
Read here how the great result came about:
Topics of this article